In preparation for The Business Journal's Healthiest Employers awards ceremony, I decided to do another apples painting that could be sold at the event. The original was to be raffled. I found recreating the original to be quite difficult and somewhat aggravating. I painted over and repainted the apples several times before I reached a point with which I was satisfied. However, the time it took to reach that point prevented me from having the painting finished in time for the awards ceremony.

I look at the second apples painting and think about how hard this painting was to finish. I think it's just easy to paint things the first time, mostly because I'm surprised I'm able to do it at all. Once I've done a painting -- whether it's apples, birds or windmills -- I have something to measure it against, thereby setting a bar for my painting ability. I struggled a bit to come to terms with the fact that the differences between one painting to another is what makes them original works of art.

The original painting, which I call "Five Green Apples," was won by a woman in Greensboro. She said, "The apples were a very appropriate theme since I work in crop protection." Unfortunately, no one took a photo of her and her winnings.

I was on a late wedding anniversary trip to Baltimore.

On another note, I think I have properly made a change to the set up of this blog that will enable anyone to comment. So anyone out there who wants to comment, please do. Especially those folks in Germany and Canada. Let me know what you think.